Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) was required to have silver coins melted down at a cost of nearly 1.4 million euros. This information comes from the Ministry’s response to a reporting request made by Green MP Sebastian Schäfer.
Approximately a year ago, the Federal Ministry of Finance had cancelled the planned sale of two specific silver coin series: the “Holy Three Kings” and the “125 Years Wuppertal Cable Car.” The reason given for the cancellation was the sharp increase in silver prices, which caused the coin’s face value to fall significantly below its material worth.
Both series had to undergo a demanding process at a mint-being deformed, melted down, and reissued with a new face value. According to the Ministry’s reply, the costs were €624,000 for the “Holy Three Kings” coin and €733,000 for the “Wuppertal Cable Car” coin, bringing the total expenditure to nearly €1.4 million. Despite this cost, the Ministry anticipates a significant coinage profit running into the upper millions, partially because the silver content of the “Holy Three Kings” coin was reduced. The Christmas coin will now be issued on November 5th as a €50 denomination.
Green MP Schäfer heavily criticized the decision, arguing that public tax money was “literally and negligently shredded” and that citizens’ funds should “simply not be handled this way.”
